Columbus says

are determining sea tempera ture and salinity.

The vessel is equipped with a ‘bouke-ami’ net designed to investigate the effects of bait fishing, and to determine whether a given marine re source is being exploited to excess.

Captain Timoci Vuatani sakea is master of the vessel, which will also carry a fisheries master, a scientific officer, an engineer, and three crewmen, crewmen.

On-board training will be given to local personnel by two Japanese aid officers on a casual basis.

Columbus says

‘No’ to PFL

‘Columbus Line, the German shipping company that Western Samoa was courting ardently to take up the management of the ailing Pacific Forum Line (PFL), and breathe new life into it, has decided against making the attempt.’

Reporting this on October 31, 1980, The Samoa Times said the bad news had been

conveyed to the Western Samoa Government by a senior Columbus official a few days before.

The paper said it was under stood the German shipping man had made ‘a most discouraging report regarding the future of the line’.

Sisco sails

to Lines

August 1980 saw the inaugur ation of a service from Suva to some of the Line Islands (Fan ning, Washington and Christ mas) in Kiribati.

Aim of the Honiara-based company Sisco Shipping Co which inaugurated the service was to have sailings for these islands every 30 days.

Managing Director B. H.

Allport said in a letter to PIM: ‘We would accept back-loading from Suva for.any of the islands en route, such as Wallis, Tokelau, etc. But because of the backlog of copra on Fan ning and Washington, space for loadings back to Suva will be short for the first three months.’

The service will be provided by the company’s MV Sisco.

Close look at

the Leonora

The Historic Preservation Office of the United States Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands planned last December to begin an archaeological sur vey of the Leonora, the ship of the blackbirder Bully Hayes, which sank in Utwe Harbour, Kosrae State, in the 1870 s.

According to TT Historic Preservation Officer Scott Russell, the survey was to be conducted by the Submerged Cultural Unit of the US National Park Service, on loan for the occasion.

The survey is designed to gather data on the condition of the wreck which will allow appropriate preservation plans to be developed.

The survey, originally re quested by officials in Kosrae State, is the first of its kind undertaken in Micronesia.

now on Pacific trials the Japanese tanker Aitoku Maru has metal sails as well as engines. - Petroleum Gazette picture.